Shameless: sexuality and regional identity!

How are regional identity and sexuality represented in the open sequence of Shameless ep.1?

In the opening sequence we see the Gallagher family and their neighbours on a normal day. The stereotypes for sexuality and regional identity all feature in the clip.

All of the Gallagher family and their neighbours appear to be from the north of England. We can tell this from the stereotypical things done to show this, for example: they all talk with the same strong accent, they all live on a council estate which implies they are poor and unemployed and they all seen to be quite rough. They behave in a very laddish way, even the female characters, of talking about sex, insulting people and being irresponsible. An example of this laddish, rough behaviour in the clip is when Fiona and Veronica are thrown out of the club with Steve and Veronica says to the bouncer "you fat twat". This is very un-lady like and you wouldn't expect a young lady to say that. Another stereotype of the northern characters is when Frank is brought home and is paralytic from how much he has had to drink.

The more southern sounding character is Steve, his accent contrasts with the others. He has stereotypical southern qualities such as having a good job and therefore being able to afford a nice car, also he wears smarter clothes than all the other characters seen, which not only indicates that he takes pride in his appearance and wants to impress but that he has more money too. However when Steve defends the girls' honours he acts very irresponsibly by punching a bouncer in the face and then exposes himself to the bouncer, which is more of a common northerner thing to do.

The sexuality of the characters, especially the straight ones, is also very stereotypical. For example Karen and Fiona both come across as being stereotypical slutty girls who give out sex as payment, in Karen's case or sleep with someone they have only just met. All the characters seem to be quite obsessed with sex. Lip for example accepts it as a payment and then he brags about it to his brother, which shows he considers it to be almost a contest. 

The gay character Ian, however, does not conform to stereotypical views. There are no signs like his looks, voice or personality that shown him to be gay as he is very ashamed of his sexuality and hides it, especially from his brothers. This fear shows that he knows his brothers homophobic towards him as stereotypically straight men are. Ian only has one quality a stereotypical gay person would, that he likes Kylie who is a gay icon.

Throughout the clip the theme tune continuously appears. This music is very repetitive, which helps to indicate that this is just an average day on the estate. However is does play when a pinnacle moment is happening, to focus the audience on the event. Another piece of music that appears is when Steve and Fiona kiss there is a piano tune which would be linked to love, this shows that this moment is the beginning of their love.

Video Prelim!

Our group prelim film, The Shock..

Paul Video Blogs!

Why make vlogs?
-Give an insight into the plot and genre of the film
-A teaser for the audience
-Entertain existing fans of Pegg and Frost
-Gives an incentive to watch the film
-Documents production



How does it promote the film?
-Helps attract the target audience
-Shows the same humour that will be in the film, so if you find them funny you will probably like the film
-Can interact with the cast (asking questions)
-Features main actors which may be an incentive to watch the film

How will it promote the film?
-Extras on the DVD (an incentive to by the DVD)

Max Fischer!

Is Max Fischer a Stereotypical Teenager?

Max Fischer, the lead character of Rushmore is clearly shown not to be an average teen. The montage scene has many examples of this.

For example Max's choose of clothing. In every activity he wears his school uniform, which he seems to have adapted to include a blazer and tie. This shows his uniqueness as none of the other boys wear such a formal uniform. Even when he is fencing, he is the team captain, Max is still wearing his chinos with the rest of his fencing clothing whilst the other team members have the proper protective trousers. He also wears his school uniform in the bombardment game. Another strange item that Max always wears is a red beret, which is a very unusual item for a teenager to wear. The fact he is always in his uniform and hardly ever has the correct attire for his activities poses the question 'does Max have any money to buy these clothes?'.

Another example of Max's unstereotypical behaviour is how he is in or has actually founded or is the president of so many groups.  These groups are mainly very bizarre activities, such as stamp and coin collecting which is a very unusual hobby that no typical teenagers do. Another example is bee keeping, which Max also wears his uniform for instead of protective keeping clothes, this is also a very unusual hobby. It also seems like Max is the only one or one of two in these strange groups. Being in all these groups we see that Max obviously has no time on his hands and that he doesn't try hard to socialise, it seems that he gains his social life from his hobbies and no one really enjoys his company.

One thing about Max that seems stereotypical is that he tries extremely hard to fit in with people by joining a variety of different clubs. This and his clothing choose seems like he is quite attention seeking and almost self centered. We see this in the school group he has named after his-self, 'The Max Fischer Players', in the montage he is center of the group and wears his uniform which makes him stand out. An group shown in the montage that shows he is self centered is his evolvement in the model UN, in this group he represents Russia. I think as Russia is a super power it shows that he thinks of himself as a super power in the school. Also he tries to improve himself and others opinions of him, especially to his older role models.

All of these elements of Max indicate that he might have an obsessive condition, as he always likes to be in control and the center of attention.

Compare How Hot Fuzz and This is England target a British Audience!

Compare How Hot Fuzz and This is England Appeal to a British Audience